Colorado House advances late-session roads, schools spending

DENVER — With less than two weeks to go in Colorado's legislative session, the Democrat-led House has advanced a proposal to increase state spending on underfunded roads and schools.

A bill sponsored by House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst would boost that investment by removing a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fund from Colorado's constitutional tax-and-spending limits.

It passed by a voice vote Thursday. The House must approve the bill to send it to the Republican-led Senate.

Hospital fees pay for the Medicaid fund. By counting it against the voter-approved Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the fund can help trigger mandatory tax refunds that come into play whenever total state revenues surpass an annual limit.

Hullinghorst says not counting it against TABOR would free millions of dollars that Colorado can spend on its roads and schools.

Those dollars would be in addition to spending already set for the fiscal year that starts July 1.